7 Guys Admit the Dickish Things They’ve Done to Make Their Girlfriends Jealous

Guys do a lot of ill-advised things when they're in love (or even "in like"). For instance, there are some men who actively try to make their partners jealous. (Editor's note: Yes, yes, some women do this, too—but today we're focusing on dudes.) Whether they're doing it because they've been feeling neglected, or simply out of pettiness, it's pretty dickish. Below, seven guys admit to the worst things they've said or done to make a girfriend jealous.

1. "When my then-girlfriend was talking to and about an ex of hers more often than I was comfortable with, I made up that an ex of my own had contacted me and we’d been talking and catching up. I was trying to make her feel the same way I was feeling, because I figured I could pull off the old 'See? You don’t like it either' thing, instead of just talking with her about how uncomfortable I was with what she’d been doing. I eventually came clean when she got worked up about it and demanded to see the messages. We broke up soon after, but I don’t think it had anything to do with that ordeal. She didn’t, like, go back to her ex or anything. I don’t think."—Jared S.

"I figured I could pull off the old 'See? You don’t like it either' thing, instead of just talking with her about how uncomfortable I was."

2. "Back when we were first dating, I would flirt with my wife’s friends right in front of her. I guess I did this because I thought she was flirting with mine, when in reality she’s just a really kind and outgoing person. I guess I was paranoid at the beginning of the relationship. While I was figuring out the kind of person she was, my flirting tactics weren’t really doing much to make her jealous. After we’d been together a couple of years, I remember bringing up what I had been doing. She laughed about it. I guess I’m not great at flirting, so I’m glad things worked out with us and that I won’t have to flirt again for as long as I live."—Matthew L.

3. "I’d been with the same woman for a couple of years when she cheated on me. I wanted to try and work through it, but part of me also wanted to hurt her, you know? So I spent less time with her, saying that I was working late even when I didn’t really have to, and I started going out with my friends more than I had before. I guess I was kind of taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t really complain about anything I did, because nothing I did would ever be as bad as cheating, right? Eventually, she got jealous and thought I was cheating and using friends and work as excuses to carry out my affair. This whole ordeal was stupid. It was how I learned that cheating is a definite dealbreaker for me." —Lance G.

"I guess I was kind of taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t really complain about anything I did, because nothing I did would ever be as bad as cheating, right?"

4. "Sometimes, when I feel like my girlfriend isn’t doing something that I wish she would, I’ll talk about relationships from my past, and talk about the girl who did do that thing. Here’s an example: I work a lot of hours, and one time when my girlfriend complained about it, I brought up an ex who worked in the same field as me, and talked about how nice it was to have someone understand the hours an attorney has to work, and didn’t complain about it. I’m not sure if it made her jealous, but it was a roundabout way to tell her I wanted her to quit trying to compete with my job for my time." —Joel B.

5. "I have a lot of female friends, and one time when I was feeling particularly annoyed with my girlfriend, who is now my ex-girlfriend, I started ramping up how much I talked about one of them. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until we had a fight about it. A fight that happened because she’d actually emailed one of my friends to ask if we were hooking up." —Kyle R.

"Sometimes, when I feel like my girlfriend isn’t doing something that I wish she would, I’ll talk about relationships from my past, and talk about the girl who did do that thing."

6. "I used to date this woman who was super-jealous and overprotective of me. Well, essentially, she just didn’t trust me, even though I don’t think she had any reason not to. When she got jealous, though, she would do all kinds of things to prove she was better than whoever she was jealous of. This included stuff she would do in the bedroom. Even though I wasn’t having sex with anyone else, I guess she wanted to do things that would keep it so I wouldn’t be tempted to try it."—Billy D.

7. "When we were just out of college, my girlfriend broke up with me because we’d been fighting a lot and I had been, honestly, taking her for granted. I was heartbroken, and instead of doing everything I could to get her back—like a reasonable person would—I instead tried my best to make her feel jealous. I hoped it would make her want me back. I started going on as many dates as I possibly could, and making sure she knew about it when I did. We were staying in close touch, so I would tell her I was out there dating and trying to move on or whatever. It was awful. I wasn’t hooking up with any of these other girls or anything, because I really didn’t want anyone else and I wasn’t anywhere near close to being ready to date again. But, it worked. One night she called me crying, asking how I could move on so quickly after we’d been together for years, and instead of pointing out that she’d been the one who dumped me, I told her the only reason I was seeing anyone else was to see if I could make her jealous enough to come back to me, and that I didn’t want anyone except her. She was kind of pissed about what I’d done, but we got back together, and now we’re engaged. For the record, I wouldn’t recommend doing what I did."—Sam W.

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